Clemson coach brings confidence

Monday

Mar 31, 2014 at 11:29 PM

It wasn’t the kind of bash normally broadcast live from around the nation during the annual Selection Sunday for the NCAA tournament where thousands of fans join players, cheerleaders and the mascot in going bonkers when their program’s bracket is revealed.

By ERIC BOYNTONeric.boynton@shj.com

NEW YORK — It wasn’t the kind of bash normally broadcast live from around the nation during the annual Selection Sunday for the NCAA tournament where thousands of fans join players, cheerleaders and the mascot in going bonkers when their program’s bracket is revealed.While such parties were prevalent from coast-to-coast a few weeks back, Clemson’s team hunkered down for a more reserved affair at coach Brad Brownell’s home, quite sure their postseason destination would be the National Invitation Tournament.When that was made official live on ESPN about 90 minutes after the NCAA had filled its slots, a subdued celebration took place. But while it wasn’t his team’s main goal, Brownell wanted to make darn sure his players understood the invite wasn’t only well-deserved, but shouldn’t be taken lightly.“We made a big deal out of it. We had our own little Selection Sunday party at our house. We had our team together and had a meal and watched it on TV. Just to recognize to our players and make them know this is a big deal and to make this field is pretty special and there’s a lot of teams watching that show on Sunday who aren’t going to these tournaments. I think that’s really helped us, making it significant, and maybe one of the reasons we’ve played well.“We weren’t jumping around and going crazy like we would if it would’ve been in the NCAA tournament, but we’re certainly clapping and excited and talking about it. We wanted to make those guys know we appreciate what they did this year and that this was a special achievement and not something to take lightly.”Brownell’s formula apparently helped in part to forge a rapid end to any pity party and refocused a squad with no seniors into playing some of its best basketball. No. 3 Clemson is the only non-No. 1 seed to make the NIT semis in New York, joining tonight’s opponent, SMU, along with Minnesota and the ACC’s Florida State making up the other side of the equation.Brownell has done an inspiring job of infusing his team with renewed confidence while not allowing his players to lose sight of the annual goal. Even with an exciting trip to Manhattan and two guaranteed games in the World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden, nobody associated with the Tigers has disagreed they would trade all this for having had a shot in the Big Dance.The NIT will continue to always rightfully play a distant second-fiddle to the widely-popular NCAA version which crowns the national champion and attracts even tepid hoops fans to the party, but changes in recent years to the NIT selection process have strengthened the field.The stigma of such nicknames as the “Not Invited Tournament” will continue to be used derisively by rival fans, but after the NCAA took control in 2005 it made significant alterations. The field was trimmed to 32 starting in 2007 and all teams winning regular season conference championships without an invite to the NCAAs receive an automatic bid. That opened the door to some talented mid-majors, akin to some of the recent lengthy runs made by their brethren through the NCAA tourney.While the NCAA still desires popular teams with strong fan bases and intriguing matchups, the revamped selection process has become more based on merit than how many people a team can put in the seats or bring to television sets.“It used to be the little bit more good old boy network where a lot of high major teams that maybe didn’t have a winning record got in and all those kind of things,” Brownell said. “You’ve now got to be very good to get the at-large bids. There’s some very good teams that had decent seasons who aren’t playing in this tournament. It’s a little more special than people realize to make the NIT. Every team here in New York this week has had a very good season, including ourselves.“We certainly want to be playing in the NCAA tournament, but this has been about as good as it can be in terms of a second-place prize. To host three games (the last two sellouts of 10,000) and have the kind of crowds we had in Littlejohn and see our fans really rally around our team after some of the tough losses with controversial endings really made our team feel good.“It let us know our fans appreciated what we’ve done this year and how hard we’re playing. Now you go on the road to Madison Square Garden and spend time in New York, going through these media situations where they’re interviewed and kind of feel like big-time players, I think it’s really special for them.”

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